Harry Potter and the Lightning Mage
by BJCKidsX4
Summary: 7th year. A new girl has entered Harry's life, seemingly determined to get on Harry's last nerve, then push him further. School's going to be different this year, with a mage and help from the dearly departed. Sirius and Dumbledore alive. AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I don't receive any money or any other compensation from writing this.

Prologue

"White. Very white. Blindingly so."

Great. Now I'm talking to myself.

"I'm an outcast in life, and now I'm an outcast in death."

"Who says you're dead?" a man's voice sounds all around me.

Ok, I'm not scared-or at least, I won't show that I am. This is just a bit freaky. I look down at my shoes,

relieved that I'm still wearing my favorite outfit-blue shirt, black cargo pants with zippers everywhere, and black steel-toed boots. Addressing the ceiling, I reply sarcastically, "Well, I've heard about and read about people getting struck by lightening and living, but I'm not that lucky so I doubt that's what happened to me. Therefore, I'm dead."

Complete silence-not even my voice echoes. Why didn't I notice that before?

Suddenly, a woman's voice sounds out of the nothing, startling me.

"Got a bit of a smart mouth, doesn't she?"

A different male voice agrees. "Yes, but can you blame her? This must be a shock. If she's read about things like that, she must like learning."

The first voice responds. "Yeah, but muggles learn about different things then we did. And I've been looking over her file-she won't participate in class, even when called on, but gets 100 on all her tests and quizzes. Frustrates her teachers to no end."

"What!" the woman screeched. "Would you rather people think you're stupid?"

"Don't call her stupid!"

"I didn't call her stupid!"

"Yes, you did."

"No-what I said was 'Would you rather people think you're stupid', not you're stupid. You never did listen to me, even when I was obviously right."

At this point, I decided they (whoever they were) were going to be at it for a while and sat on the floor. This has got to be some weird whacked out dream if I'm not dead. I unzipped my backpack, pulled out my walkman and cd case and chose a cd. I think some Nine Inch Nails sounds good about now. Which song would perk me up? Ah ha! I know!

Meanwhile, the bickering continued.

"Red, I think..." the second male voice says uneasily.

The other two continue, oblivious to anyone else.

"Oh, you were not always right."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Name one time when i was obviously wrong."

"Wormtail."

"Wormtail was not my idea!"

"Guys, I think it's not..." the other voice says, sounding peeved.

"Oh yes he was! Prongs was going to have me be secret keeper, but you said no, Peter would be a better choice, because everyone knows how close we were!"

"I thought he was yours and James..."

"Nope!" a voice boasts, "Now say it."

"Say what?" the woman says exasperatingly.

"Don't be a prude, just say it-Padfoot was right, and I was wrong."

"Are you serious?"

"Now that you mention it, yes, I am!"

"That is getting a bit old, and I am not saying that, that ridiculous-thing! Besides, I don't remember exactly what was said to whom that long ago."

"Oh, now isn't that convenient?"

"HEY! YOU WERE BOTH WRONG! Now can we please get back to the matter at hand?"

A man materializes a few feet behind the girl, and another man and woman quickly follow.

"As you can see, we've lost the girl's attention."

They watch as the girl starts nodding her head to the music, finally getting up and dancing.

Then she started singing.

I got my head but my head is unraveling  
cant keep control can't keep track of where it's traveling  
I got my heart but my heart's no good  
you're the only one that's understood

I come along but I don't know where you're taking me  
I shouldn't go but you're wrenching dragging shaking me  
turn off the sun pull the stars from the sky  
the more I give to you the more I die

and I want you

and I want you

and I want you

and I want you

you are the perfect drug  
the perfect drug  
the perfect drug  
the perfect drug

you make me hard when I'm all soft inside  
I see the truth when I'm all stupid-eyed  
the arrow goes straight through my heart  
without you everything just falls apart

my blood just wants to say hello to you  
my fear is warm to get inside of you  
my soul is so afraid to realize  
how every little bit is left of me

Out of the corner of my eye I realized that I was no longer alone. 2 dark haired men and a red-headed woman stood there, not much older then I was, looking at me strangely. Feeling a bit embarrassed, I shut off my music.

"What? You've never heard of Nine Inch Nails?"

The taller man asks, "What would you need nails that long for?"

My eyes rolled at this. "They aren't actually nails-it's a band. Never mind. You done fighting yet so I can find out what's going on?"

The woman turns to the man wearing glasses.

"Are you sure she's the one?"

"She was chosen for a reason. Give her a chance."

"Um...who chose me for what?"

The man with glasses starts speaking to me.

"We need to ask a few questions. Tell me-has anything unusual ever happened when you were very angry? Glasses or windows breaking or anything of that sort?"

What kind of question was that?

"Uh, no, but I was really pissed off at this one guy once for taking my backpack and his nose started gushing blood and he got really bad stomach cramps until he dropped my bag."

"Ever find yourself in a panic and be in one place one minute, and somewhere else the next?"

"Yeah, so I've got a problem with blacking out at inconvenient times! Who told you that?"

"Dream about something and it comes true?"

"This is just stupid. Why don't you just tell me what the hell is going on?"

Three sets of eyebrows shot up.

The long haired guy spoke up.

"Well, I guess the little bird here wants us to get to the point. Ok-here it goes."

He clears his throat, and puts a big grin on his face.

"Welcome to your new life! Comes equipped with a new school, new friend, new subjects, excellent food served by house elves, and best of all-magic! That's right-I said magic! Sure, there's an insane freak of a dark lord trying to destroy everyone who doesn't bow down to him, but you get the opportunity-no, the privilege-of helping the savior of the wizarding world!

He paused for a moment.

"By the way, how do you feel about green eyes?"

I just stare at him.

The other man and woman look at him like he's grown a second head.

"Where the bloody hell did that come from?" asks the man.

Proudly straightening his shirt, Padfoot says, "Saw it on the telly once on something called a game show! The audience got excited when the man started talking like that, and I thought she might take the news better that way."

I interrupted.

"Am I in a coma and on some hallucinogenics?"

This is too strange-even for me.

The woman steps forward and puts her arm around my shoulders.

"Come with me. I'll explain everything inside. Then we can start training"

"Inside what?"

A modest looking white cottage appears in from of us about 30 feet away, complete with a white picket fence.

"Our home. Well, James and I live here. Sirius lives next door-I couldn't live in the same house as those two. Anyway, come in and we'll have a chat over a cup of tea."

"Got any hot chocolate? I don't really like tea."

"Of course. Probably better then the tea at the moment, all things considered. Had quite a shock today, after all. By the way, my name is Lily."

"Bethany. Pleasure to meet you."


	2. Chapter 2

I thought I'd let everyone know that so far this story has no beta. Two people have asked to beta for me, but after sending the prologue to them, I never heard anything back about the story. Although one person have apparently added me to their list of people to send junk mail to. So if anyone wants to seriously beta for me, let me know. This is my first attempt at fan fiction, and I know I'm probably making tons of mistakes. Sorry about that.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Bill and Ted, or anything else mainstream that might be mentioned in this story in any chapters coming up or in the past.

Ron was obviously feeling impatient, watching the first years getting sorted. With one hand propping his chin, the other drumming at the table, he whispered to Harry, "Is the sorting ever going to end? I'm starved! Why can't they do this after the feast?"

Harry grinned. Leave it to Ron to think of his stomach before anything else.

Hermione sighed exasperated. "Honestly Ron! Do you think before you speak? How would the new first years know where to sit if the sorting wasn't first? Besides, it's tradition. In 'Hogwarts, A History' it says the sorting has been a ritual since..."

"Oh look! It's done now!" Harry cuts in.

Hermione looked towards the head table. She glanced back at Harry. "Nice diversion, Potter."

Harry smiled weakly at her. He and Ron appreciated Hermione for her cleverness, but when she started quoting that book she could go on for hours. Ron gave Harry a grateful look.

'Thank you' Ron mouthed at Harry.

Harry just nodded back. Truthfully, he was quite hungry himself. While the traditional Weasley breakfast was wonderful as always, there were rushed due to oversleeping. It seems to always be rushed September 1 before dashing off to Kings Crossing to platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts Express. And the chocolate frogs weren't all that filling, and seemed to have been eaten a long time ago on the train.

Professor McGonagall was approaching the stool and sorting hat to put them away until next year when the air felt suddenly heavy. Harry noticed the static in the air as the hair on his arms and on the back of his neck stood up. He, Ron, and Hermione looked at each other and wordlessly reached for their wands. They could hear Draco Malfoy saying some snide remark about the 'golden trio' but ignored him in favor of the increasing static in the air.

Harry looked at Professor Dumbledore and started to rise out of his seat when the ceiling of the great hall clouded over and began rumbling. A flash of lightening bolted down brightly and struck the floor. Everyone quickly dove underneath the tables, including Malfoy and his goons, except Harry and Professors Dumbledore and Snape.

"Well," Harry mused to himself, "If Malfoy is even scared, it can't be a Death Eater attack."

Then he glanced toward the front of the hall and saw a girl standing there in muggle clothes, looking all around her. She seemed to be looking for something or someone. Her eyes finally got around to Harry and widened. She started walking toward him. Thunder rumbled through the room again, and some students started whimpering along with a few screams. She stopped where she was, and looked up.

The girl threw her hands up and said, "All right already! I forgot to do the hat first! So sue me!"

By this time most of the students and teachers had wearily come out from under their tables, and were watching the newcomer.

She walked over to the stool, picked up the sorting hat, and shoved it down on her head. The hat seemed to bristle.

"What's this? The sorting is over! And you are older then the usual students beginning their first year here at Hogwarts."

The hat paused. "Oh my!" it exclaimed after a few moments.

"Now I understand. This is most unusual indeed. To never have had formal training, and to have that much knowledge...none the less, it is my job to place a person into a house if I am on their head, and so I shall. Hum, very interesting. Clever, kind to friends, ruthless to those that wish to harm said friends. Sly and cunning. Don't like to study much, do you? I think you will be in..."

The girl yanked the hat's mouth shut and pushed it further down on her head. It appeared she was arguing with the sorting hat by her facial expressions. Finally she let go of the hat.

"Gryffindor! Gryffindor!" The hat quickly shouted. "For Merlin's sake, put me down and go to your table!"

The girl whipped the hat off her head with a big grin. She picked up the stool, strode over to Professor McGonagall and thrust both the stool and the sorting hat at her, who took them quickly and backed up to the head table.

Professor Snape stormed toward the girl with a hostile look on his face. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her one when he was shocked with something not unlike electricity and hit the floor.

"No one touches me without my permission." the girl said in a threatening voice, glaring at the man.

She then looked back up towards the ceiling.

"Ok, I did the stupid hat thing-can I have my bag now?" she called out.

A bulky muggle backpack materialized on the floor in front of her. She crouched down, unzipped it, and started going through it's contents. The girl stood up, put her hands on her hips, and said, "Excuse me! Walkman and cd's-now please! I told you I was taking them with me!"

The candles dimmed for a second, then returned to normal. A small metallic machine and a large bulging black case appeared on the floor next to her.

"Did you do the spell on them?"

The light dimmed briefly and returned again.

The girl bent down, picked up the items and carefully placed them in her backpack. Glimpsing back at the golden trio, who had their wands out and seemed to be struggling on whether or not to approach the stranger, she turned back to the front.

She looked at Snape. "Sorry, Professor Snape. You startled me. I really don't like to be touched, though! Besides, it's kinda rude to just grab someone without their permission Here-let me fix that." gesturing towards his singed hands.

"Don't-touch-me" Snape seethed.

"Don't-be-ridiculous!" the girl mocked back. She grabbed his hands and a blue light enveloped them. Releasing his hands, she smiled and said, "There-all better now!"

Addressing the headmaster, she said in an upbeat tone, "Hi! You must be Professor Dumbledore. I'm Bethany Frost. I was sent to this fine establishment to learn, prank, have fun, and all sorts of things that I really can't talk about here. Oh yeah, and to help."

She leaned closer, putting her hands on the head table, looked into the headmaster's eyes and spoke in a low voice, "Strange things are afoot at the Circle-K."

Professor Dumbledore's eyebrows raised and he quickly shot up out of his seat.

"Most Excellent Bill and Ted reference." he said with a strange look on his face.

"Thought you might know what I was talking about. Although I don't think the rest of your "order" does.

"For certain. Professors McGonagall, Snape, Flitwick, and Sprout-please see that your houses return to their dormitories. Also, Minerva and Severus, please join us in my office when finished. You too, Hagrid."

Snape protested. "Sir, I will not leave you alone with this-this person! She has already proven herself to be untrustworthy, and could be a danger-we know nothing about her. I insist on being with you when you begin to interrogate her."

Bethany seethed at this. "How well are you going to interrogate me with your wand shoved up your ass sideways?" she sneered, crossing her arms in front of her.

Harry, Ron and Hermione, who had been inconspicuously inching forward, immediately stopped.

"I cannot believe she said that to a teacher!" exclaimed Hermione.

"I like her already!" said Ron.

Hermione grabbed at Ron and Harry to go sit back down. Ron went, but Harry stayed where he was.

Harry was silent, eyes furrowed. He didn't like the idea of Dumbledore going anywhere with this Bethany person-she was probably a spy from Voldemort or the ministry. Neither had been happy with all the commotion that the headmaster had caused lately. The Order had been very successful in bringing in several death eaters this past summer, and the Daily Prophet had been reporting in favor of the headmaster against Minister Fudge.

Ignoring Bethany's remark to Professor Snape, Dumbledore addressed the rest of the great hall. "In light of these unusual circumstances, start of term notices shall be given at breakfast. Please return to you houses upon completion of you meal."

Gesturing to Bethany, he said, "Shall we continue to my office, Miss Frost?"

"I'm kinda hungry-can we get a doggy bag?"

"I'm sorry, I'm not sure of what you mean by 'doggy bag', but I can have the house elves bring up food and refreshments in a moment." Dumbledore said, curious with her manner of speaking. 'Americans have such a strange way of talking', he thought to himself.

"That'd be great-but no tea for me. I don't like flavored water unless it's lemon. Juice would be nice. Or maybe some hot chocolate?"

"That can be arranged. Dobby?"

Bethany was startled when a short little creature wearing clashing clothes (stripes, polka dots, and plaid) popped into existence in front of her, facing the headmaster.

"How may I be's serving headmaster this evening?" said the elf.

"Would you please be so kind as to bring dinner for myself and Miss Frost to my office in 15 minutes? And please bring our guest some pumpkin juice and hot chocolate. She appears to not enjoy tea."

Dobby turned around. "Oh miss! I's not seeing you there! I.." he peered closely at her. "You is the one!" he gasped.

Bethany looked uneasy. "Uh, I'm one new student. That's all. Nothing too much more then that." she stammered. How could someone here know about her already?

"Oh miss! You is more then one student! Any house elf can tell you is special. But why is you here, now?"

Bethany crouched down so she was face to face with the odd creature. "I'm here to help Harry." she whispered to Dobby. "But you can't tell _anyone_, not Harry, Professor Dumbledore, or anyone else who or what I am. Understand?"

"I is not telling, miss. I promise on my free elf position!"

"Thank you, Dobby." she whispered. A little louder, she said, "We will have to talk later-how can we be friends if we don't know each other?"

Dobby started blubbering. "You is too kind to Dobby, but I is looking forward to talking with the great miss! I must go get your dinner ready now." and with that he popped away.

"Miss Frost, I am curious as to how you made friends with Dobby so quickly, but I think that would be better explained in my office. After you."

"Sure. Just tell me right, left or straight, seeing how I don't know where your office is." Bethany told him, grabbing her bag off the floor and walking towards the doors. She stopped in front of Harry, who was standing there with his arms crossed and a look of distrust on his face. Bethany grabbed a piece of bread off a platter, held it up to him and said, "One for the road-haven't ate real food in a long time. See you later, Harry Potter."

Harry grunted at that.

"I'm sure we will, Bethany Frost." he said in a not very polite tone.

"'Get your broomstick out of your arse' is what two of my mentors would say to that"

Harry was about to retort when he saw Dumbledore shake his head slightly. He went back to his seat next to Ron, glaring at Bethany as the headmaster led her out of the great hall.

The rest of the school burst into loud chattering as soon as the doors closed.

Ron turned to Harry.

"She can't be all that bad, mate. Dumbledore seems trust her, and she insulted Snape-right to his face! I'll remember that for a while, right along with the bouncing ferret incident."

"Ronald Weasley! Professor Snape may be a horrible, mean teacher, but he's still a teacher! We may not like him, but we should still respect him." Hermione lectured.

"Teacher or not, he lost my respect when he started disrespecting Gryffindors because of what house we are in!"

Harry ignored the argument, one of which he was sure to be many this year. He was busy wondering what could be going on in the headmaster's office. Harry sighed. Why couldn't he ever just have a normal year? He got up from the table.

"I'm going back to the common room. See you guys there."

Ron and Hermione stopped bickering and raced after him, Ron still chewing on his last bite of food. It looked as if he had shoveled three or four bites of food in his mouth before chasing after Harry.


	3. Chapter 3

I'm tired of putting in disclaimers. This will be the last one. I don't own Harry Potter, or anything/one that someone else might recognize. I'm broke, and going after me for money or personal property will get you a broken down van that sucks gas like a sponge in water in the desert, and maybe some change on the floor that I somehow missed.

I've been trying to space correctly, and will be trying something new this chapter. Hopefully it will work. Sorry about the spacing problems before.

Also, I think I have the Dobby-speak down decently, but Hagrid is going to have normal speech in this story. I'm not even going to try his broken dialect.

As soon as Bethany and Dumbledore left the great hall, she turned to him and said, "Why don't you lead? I'm not too fond of taking orders. Well, I will do if they make sense, but all-in-all, don't like them."

"As you wish, Miss Frost. Tell me, how did you come to be here?"

"Let's just save it until we get to your office. Don't want the wrong people hearing anything. It's kind of a 'Sirius' matter."

"And perhaps a few more?"

"You could say that. Hey! What's with the gothic looking gargoyle?"

Professor Dumbledore smiled faintly. "That is the guardian to the entrance of my office. He will not move aside unless you know the password, or know how to bypass the password."

He waved his hand over the gargoyle's head, and watched as the stone statue jumped to the side. "Of course, all the teachers know the password, as do the head boy and head girl. The stairway lets me know when anyone is coming, so I'm not surprised. Also, no one can enter my office if I am not present."

"Thanks for the warning."

Dumbledore entered the stairway, and it started gliding up. Bethany raised her eyebrows and jumped on behind him.

"Cool! I've never seen a revolving escalator before! Nice bird statue-is it an eagle?"

Dumbledore smiled to himself. "No, that is a phoenix. Fascinating creatures. Capable of carrying immense weight, and their tears have healing abilities, but only when given freely. Their song is one of the most beautiful sounds in the world. They are also great judges of character."

Bethany raised her eyebrows at this. "Oh tay. I thought they were mythical creatures. You know, like Zeus, unicorns, and dragons."

They had reached the top of the staircase, and the headmaster open his door. Walking to the other side of his desk, he gestured to a beautiful red and gold bird. As you can see, phoenix are very real, as are unicorns and dragons."

Bethany, who had been staring at the bird who was intensely staring back, was startled to awareness at this. She looked at Dumbledore. "Dragons and unicorns are real? Come on! I can believe the bird-I watch National Geographic, and they are always finding new species or species that were thought to be extinct. But giant flying lizards and horses with horns are a bit much. What's next-the Loch Ness Monster?"

"Nessie is a water dragon, very rare indeed. And we have unicorns residing in the Forbidden Forest, along with centaurs."

"Centaurs-the half man-half horse thingies, right?" Bethany said skeptically.

"That is correct."

She opened and closed her mouth several times. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. James and Sirius had told her about the house elves, quiddich, and other various things that seemed too real to be true, but this was too much to comprehend. Lily was the one who taught her book-smarts, but never mentioned any of this. Bethany's knees started to wobble and she started sinking to the floor.

Dumbledore conjured a chair behind her to sink into. "I think this would be more comfortable then the floor, don't you?"

Bethany realized she was sitting on an extremely comfy chair. "Where'd this come from?"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. He said one word- "Magic."

Dobby, who had changed his rags and was now wearing a tuxedo (at least, the shirt and jacket-he still wore a black sock and a bright purple sock with broomsticks on it), and several other house elves popped in near Bethany and started setting up their meal. An elaborate table with fine white linen, china, and silverware was set up in an instant. Several covered trays and pitchers appeared in the middle of the table.

"You's dinner is served. Will you's need anything else?"

"It looks great to me, Dobby. How about you, professor?"

Dumbledore looked impressed, and a bit put out. "Everything looks wonderful, Dobby. Even more elaborate that you usually bring just me."

Dobby had the decency to blush. "I is bringing a fine dinner for Miss Bethany and the headmaster. We don't want her to leave and think we is not liking her!"

Bethany was surprised at this. She had never had anyone go all out like this before for her. "Dobby, I won't leave because the food is bad, and anything that smells that good _can't_ be bad. I'll leave when my job is done, because I won't have any reason to stay here."

Dobby smiled at the compliment. "I knows you not leaving soon. You can stay and eat good food and nice clean sheets and clothes."

Bethany smiled. "Thank you, Dobby. Now, which one is the hot chocolate?" she said, waving at the pitchers.

Dobby waved his hand, and a mug appeared at her plate, filled with steaming hot chocolate. "The one nearest to you is you drink. I make it special for you-lots of chocolate." he said, ducking his head shyly.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Thank you Dobby. That will be all for now."

Dobby bowed to them and popped out with the other elves, who had been looking at Bethany the entire time.

"Well!" Dumbledore said, clapping his hands together, and the covers disappeared. "Let's not let this fine food go to waste. We can talk after we dine."

Bethany served herself up something that looked like chicken with a lemon sauce. She also had some pasta, a couple rolls, and some green beans with slivered almonds. She felt like she had died and gone to heaven again, or wherever she went. And then came dessert. It was one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen-a quadruple layer chocolate cake with creamy frosting from out of this world. And it had white chocolate flowers on it! Joy! She hadn't thought she had room for another bite, until this came along. Bethany said a quiet thank you to Dobby and the rest of the house elves. How did they know that, next to air, chocolate was almost life or death to her?

When she and Dumbledore had their fill, the whole table disappeared. Her chair gently raised up and moved to in front of the headmaster's desk. She looked at Dumbledore and said, "Those elves definitely deserve a raise for that cake alone. I wonder if I can get the recipe?"

The professor had to laugh at this. He watched as Bethany's eyes grew large when the cake appeared on the table, and when she finally took a bit of her slice, he saw her glow slightly. He knew Dobby hit a soft spot with the chocolate cake. He wondered about the recipe himself. The chocolate seemed to almost melt in his mouth as soon as it hit his tongue. The elves had never served anything that elaborate before in his entire time as headmaster, professor, and student.

"I'm not sure. I can honestly say that I've never had the privilege of tasting that dessert before. You must have made quite an impression with Dobby."

"He's a nice little, uh, elf. Who wouldn't want to be friends with him? Especially if he can bake like that!"

"There are many who think that house elves, amongst others, are beneath them."

"That's just stupid. That's as stupid as someone thinking they are better then others because of the color of their skin. Or how much money they have. Or where they live. Or if they have expensive clothes."

"I agree with you. But that discussion will have to wait for another time. Tell me, how did you come to be here at Hogwarts?"

"It's kinda a long story"

"I think we can make the time."

"You really want the whole story, or an abridged version?"

"How about we start with the abridged version, with some elaborations."

"Ok. But there really isn't anything all that interesting to tell." Bethany looked at him closely. "How did you know that I wasn't one of Voldemort's thugs in the great hall?" she asked, sipping on her second mug of hot chocolate.

"To my knowledge, Voldemort cannot control the elements as of yet."

Bethany didn't notice the door behind her opening, and Professors Snape and McGonagall and Hagrid entering and standing behind her. She started explaining her story.

"Well, I was walking home from school and it was raining out. I got hit by lightening, and passed out or died-I can't decided which. When I woke up I was in this white place. Some voices started talking to me, and then they appeared next to me. The guys were kinda cute, and the lady was real pretty. Well, they started talking to me, and saying some weird stuff, and then a house appeared. I went through some training, and let me tell you how weird this whole magic business is. I mean, when David Copperfield was just starting out when I was a little kid, he came to my school and did a show and I was his helper and I messed it all up, but he didn't yell at me or anything so it was ok. But for magic to be really real, and all these magical creatures to be real and everything else-I just...I guess I'm still having a hard time swallowing it all. So anyway, Lily taught me book smarts, all the wand waving stuff, and how to control my temper a bit so the lightening doesn't go all wacky, and James and Sirius taught me how to have fun with magic. Although sometimes when I'm really sleepy or get startled, the lightening control gets away from me. I'm still learning control over it. Sirius told me what to say to you so you would know I was acting on his behalf. He told me he had you over at Grimmald Place and he took you to see the midnight showing of Bill and Ted at the theater. He also told me that he quoted that phrase enough that you would know that I got it from him. And now here we are."

Dumbledore sat behind his desk with his hands folded in front of him. He knew that Bethany was telling the truth, as he had Dobby slip a bit of veritaserum in her pitcher of hot chocolate. True, it seemed like she was holding some things back, but that was different then lying.

Severus Snape, however, thought the whole thing sounded ridiculous. "Headmaster, surely you do not..." was as far as he got to questioning the girl before he and the others next to him in the room had to hit the floor to escape the bolt of lightening coming from the teenager.

"Geez! Didn't you hear me saying something about not controlling myself when startled, mister I-sneak-up-on-people? And why do you keep doubting me? You know, James and Sirius told me what a creep you were, but I was gonna try to make my own judgment. I guess I didn't need to bother-they were right. By the way-are you really a vampire, or is that just something they made up?"

McGonagall and Hagrid were trying, and not so successfully, to hold in their laughter at this last bit after recovering from their shock. After all, it wasn't everyday they were almost hit by lightening.

Snape started sputtering indignantly.

"The child seems to be telling the truth, Severus." Professor Dumbledore mused. "Sirius and James would tell her something like that just to get a rise out of you. And to answer your question, Miss Frost, Professor Snape is not a vampire."

"No vampires? I figured there would be vampires if magic was real."

Dumbledore chuckled. "What I said was Professor Snape is not a vampire, contrary to the student's popular belief. There are vampires, just not here at Hogwarts."

"Oh. Well, I guess they were just teasing me again then." Bethany gave way to a large yawn. "Well, now that you know that I'm telling the truth, is it ok for me to go to bed? I've kinda had a long day, and that huge meal made me a bit tired."

"Of course. Professor McGonagall, would you please show Miss Frost to Gryffindor Tower and her dorm? I believe we could all use some rest after tonight's excitement."

"Of course, headmaster. Miss Frost, if you would follow me?" McGonagall walked to the door, stopping to make sure her new student was following.

Bethany slowly got up and wondered over to her new teacher. "Professor McGonagall, can I ask you a question? Do people really ride on broomsticks?"

Hagrid boomed out in laughter, causing Bethany to stare at him. "Of course they do. And Harry Potter is the best flyer there ever was! Not a single stunt he ever tried and didn't succeed. A bit of a risk taker, but he always ends up all right. You'll find that out soon enough, I reckon."

Professor Snape sneered at this. "Yes, except when the foolish child ends up in the hospital wing over a stupid stunt. His file is larger then anyone else's at Hogwarts."

"A bit reckless, huh? I can deal with reckless, as long as no one else gets hurt. Then it just ticks me off."

"Well, then you're going to be sorely disappointed with Mr. Potter. Trouble and hurt follows him wherever he goes, and usually his friends get hurt right along with him."

McGonagall said, "That's enough, Severus. I will not have you berating my Gryffindors. Please, come with me, Miss Frost." She proceeded to walk down the staircase.

"Guess that's my cue to go. Goodnight professors." Bethany hurried after McGonagall.

She finally caught up with her teacher at the main staircase. 'For an old lady, she sure moves quick!' though Bethany.

"This is the most direct route to Gryffindor tower. Mind the trick stairs, and watch out for the staircases-they move."

"What do you mean, they move? They seem pretty solid to me." questioned Bethany. And of course, that was when the staircase decided to move at the forth floor. "My God, does _everything_ here have it's own mind? I figured the staircases would be alright, seeing how they're stone!"

"This is quite simple to remedy. Simply go to the next hallway, and use the other stairs."

"Yeah, right." Bethany mumbled. "Until these ones start up."

Professor McGonagall stopped, turned, and put her hand on Bethany's shoulder, hoping she wouldn't get shocked and please that the girl trusted her enough that she didn't. "I know that this can all be quite confusing, but it will get easier. Don't try to fight Hogwarts, learn about her. Be kind to her, and she will be kind to you."

Bethany raised her eyebrows at this, but said nothing. The professor made it sound like Hogwarts was alive, and that made it a bit creepy, thinking she was wandering around a living thing. But she figured she would just go with the flow on this.

They finally reached the seventh floor (with Bethany asking several times where the elevator was), and walked down the hall to a portrait of a large woman in an old fashioned pink dress. She was fanning herself with a hand held fan, and reading a book. The portrait noticed the professor and a new student approaching her and sat up straight.

"Good evening, Professor McGonagall. I see we have a straggler tonight. Does she know the password?" The woman in the picture turned and addressed Bethany. "If you don't have the password, you can't come in. That's the rules, no exceptions."

"But I just got here, and I don't know anybody yet, not really! How am I supposed to know the password?" Bethany said in a bit of a panic.

"Don't worry. The password is 'Dissendium.' I set it this morning." the professor smiled at her.

The lady moved her frame open, revealing a smallish passageway. McGonagall went beckoned Bethany to follow her, as she moved to enter the room. And what a room it was, when Bethany entered it. There were many comfy looking chairs and couches, along with a large inviting fireplace along the side wall. Several students were in there chatting to each other about their summer vacations, but it went silent as they saw who entered the room.

Harry stood up abruptly, knocking over the chess set that he was playing with Ron. This caused Ron to knock into his girlfriend, who had been reading ahead in her transfiguration book.

"Ron! What's wrong with...oh!" Hermione exclaimed, standing up and smoothing out her skirt.

Harry was fuming. How could the headmaster let this fraud in here? She must have told a very convincing lie, to still be here. He stalked over to his teacher.

"What's she doing in here?" he snarled.

"Mr. Potter, do not take that tone with me, unless you want a detention already. Miss Frost was sorted into Gryffindor, so she belongs here just as much as you do. Miss Granger, could you please show our new student to the seventh year dormitories? And in the morning, please show her around a bit so she doesn't get lost."

Hermione hurried over. "Of course, Professor McGonagall."

The professor nodded her head, looked sternly at Harry, and walked out of the common room. Harry glared at Bethany, went back to the table he and Ron were playing chess at, picked up his books and went up the stairwell to the boy's dormitory. The students that were still in the common room started whispering to each other. Ron grabbed his own books and walked over to Hermione and Bethany. Hermione introduced herself and Ron.

"I'm Hermione Granger, and this is my boyfriend Ron Weasley. You seem to already know Harry, although I don't know how or why he doesn't seem to like you. What's your name?"

"Bethany Frost. I usually answer to Bethany or Beth, but not Bethy. Where's the dorm? I think I've had enough of people staring at me for one night."

Hermione took in the girl's rumpled clothing and dark eyes. She pitied her, remembering how it was to be new at everything magical.

"Just a moment." She went and grabbed a large heavy-looking bag full of books and strange looking paper poking out the top, went to Ron and kissed him on the cheek goodnight. "Follow me." She started walking to the stairway and said, "Boys dorms are to the left, girls to the right. I won't be rooming with you, as I'm Head Girl this year, so there was an extra bed in the dorm anyway. We are at the very top of the stair case."

Bethany groaned at this. Why are there so many damn stairs here? She mumbled to herself, "I guess my legs are going to get in good shape walking up and down these steps all day long."

Hermione smiled. "You get used to it after a while. Wait until you have a full load of books with you. Here we are." she said, reaching the top of the stairs. "You can take the first bed to the left. That was my old bed. Do you have your robes and books?"

Bethany grimaced. "Uh, no. I guess I'm going to have to find a way to buy all that stuff soon. Where do I go to get those?"

"Oh, well, Professor Dumbledore will probably make arrangements for someone to take you to a few stores in Diagon Alley tomorrow. It's a good thing this term started on a weekend." Hermione looked at her shyly. "If you want, you could borrow a set of robes from me until you get your own. We're about the same height."

"That would be great. I was feeling a bit of out of place wearing normal clothes."

"Right then. I'll see you in the morning in the common room." Hermione beamed at her. She left Bethany sitting on her old bed, and went down the staircase. She felt sorry for the strangely accented girl. Hermione couldn't help but to wonder what the new girl was doing here, and how she arrived in such a fashion. It seemed she was thrown into this world blindly. However, a trip to the library was definitely in store tomorrow. Lightening was definitely not a normal means of travel, even in the wizarding world. She just hoped Harry would loosen up a bit on Bethany after a good night's sleep. The girl was going to need all the friends she could get.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note:

Sorry about the long wait for the next chapter. My brand new computer (only had it for 2 weeks!) crashed, due to a transformer blowing out. Not only did I lose everything I had written, but it totally erased my hard-drive. I was not a happy camper!

Also, the bit in the last chapter about David Copperfield-very true. It happened to me in first grade. I totally screwed up the trick, but he was nice enough not to get mad at me (at least in front of my face), and then he gave me a life-time pass to any show of his. So of course, I lost it. Somewhere my Mom has pictures of me attempting to do the trick with him. I don't remember the entire trick (happened way back in 1980 or 1981), but I remember a bottle, hanky, and a metal ring. Remember to be nice to the little people-you never know if they're going to end up a star!

Again, trying something new with spacing. Maybe this time it will work. Cross your fingers and hope for the best! If it doesn't work, I'm taking down the chapter for about 10 minutes or so to try something else. If none of these work, then I will resort to adding various letters

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Ron woke up to Harry grumbling about the new girl. He had never seen Harry so upset before about someone who wasn't either a deatheater, or a victim of a deatheater attack. Well, Rita Skeeter upset him a lot too. And Malfoy. But not someone Harry had just met. And he didn't even really meet her! A few words in the great hall and glaring at her in the common room didn't qualify as meeting someone.

Apparently Ron was not the only one Harry had woke up. Neville had a pillow over his head, and Dean and Seamus were sitting on the ends of their beds looking like they were plotting revenge for being woke up early on a Saturday morning. Harry shut the lid of his trunk that he had been looking through, like it was the answer to all his problems. He all but ran to the door, slamming open the door so hard it bounced off the wall and shut again.

"Damn Harry! What'd the door do to you?" said Ron.

"Are you going down to breakfast or what?" growled Harry, in response to Ron's question.

"Yeah, sure. Give me 5 minutes and I'll meet you in the common room."

Harry nodded, opened the door with slightly less force then before, and stalked out of the room.

"What's his problem?" asked Seamus.

"Merlin knows. I'll try to find out at breakfast, if I don't get my head torn off."

After Ron had visited the bathroom and gotten dressed, he headed down to the common room only to stop at the bottom of the stairs. Hermione and the new girl (Bethany, right?) were standing in the middle of the room talking about classes and professors. Bethany was just finished putting on Hermione's winter robes. She pulled out a pair of gloves from the pockets, looked at them, shrugged, then stuffed them back in. At least, Hermione was talking. Bethany was glancing around the common room when her eyes fell on Harry. She seemed to be in a staring match with Harry, who was sitting rigidly in a chair by the fireplace. He glared, she glared. Harry's eyebrows furrowed, so did hers. He death-glared, she death-glared. And then it happened. Bethany's face transformed to a bright and happy smile. To say Harry was surprised was an understatement. His eyebrows shot up almost to his forehead. Then Bethany did something that Ron would never forget-she stuck out her tongue and crossed her eyes. A burst of laughter escaped from Harry's lips before he slapped his hand over his mouth. Hermione startled from the outburst. She had been so busy talking to Bethany that she hadn't noticed the unspoken battle between one of her best friends and her new friend. Ron couldn't help it-he had to laugh, earning another glare from Harry.

Harry got up and stalked over to Ron, grabbing a fist full of robes, and began dragging him from the common room.

"I guess I'll see you at breakfast, Hermione!" called out Ron as he was lugged out the door. He didn't hear a response because the Fat Lady's portrait had already closed.

Harry grumbled his way down the corridor, causing several first years to jump out of the way. He still had his hand firmly attached to Ron's robes when they got to the staircase. Seeing how Ron didn't want to spend his first day back in the hospital wing from being dragged down several flights of stairs, he yanked his robes from Harry's grasp.

"Ok, Harry. This is getting a bit old. I do know the way to the great hall! What's got your knickers in a twist this morning?"

Harry hadn't realized that he was still dragging Ron around behind him. He let go of Ron, looked around to make sure no one was within hearing distance and sighed.

"Sorry, Ron. That new girl has got me so upset. I mean, really! She comes out of no where, disrupts the feast, and tears Dumbledore away without even letting him eat! And I don't know what she said to him to make him trust her, but I don't. I.."

Harry sighed again and raked his hands through his hair. "I'm just sick of trusting people blindly. Every time I do, something bad happens. And look where trusting people has gotten me! Quirrell, who was hiding Voldemort under his turban. Lockhart, a complete fraud. Moody, who was Barty Crouch. We're supposed to trust Snape, but he's such a git that it's impossible to trust him. No actual light wizard would behave the way he does. Umbridge, Fudge, Dung Fletcher. I could go on and on! I'm done trusting people just on someone elses's say so." Harry finished up looking miserable. He shook his head, and started down the stairs. Ron quickly caught up with him.

"First of all, Dumbledore probably had the house elves bring up sandwiches or something, so I don't think either one of them went hungry last night. And who asked you to trust her? Trust is usually built, not given freely. But the way you're acting, you'd think she came here, wand blazing and putting people down left and right!"

"Did you see how she got here, Ron? From lightening! I doubt even Hermione has a good thing to say about that!" said Harry, exasperated. "She just appears out of the air, tossing her long brown hair around like she's something special, displays powers that are unheard of, and everyone is supposed to be ok with that? Well, I'm not. She hurts Snape, then heals him. Then there's Dobby. What kind of power does she have over house elves? Dobby is usually a bit more cautious with new people, and the second he sees her, he acts like she's the greatest thing in the world! He didn't even say hi to me, or wave or anything! Explain that, will you?"

Ron was trying to take everything Harry was saying in, but he kept replaying in his mind about the 'long brown hair' bit. What was that about? Why would Harry make any comment about Bethany's hair if he loathed her so much? Maybe it wasn't so much as loathing, but more curious. Intrigued? Tempted? Enthralled? Damn! Now he was using Hermione words. This was too much to think about seriously before he even ate breakfast. Maybe him and Mione could uh, 'go for a walk' later on and talk about it. That is, if he could get her away from Bethany. Either way, Ron didn't think that Bethany would be far from anyone's thoughts anytime soon.

Breakfast turned out to be a very quiet-at first. Almost no one was talking, except to say 'pass the toast' and the like. It was far from the first morning back pattering. When a utensil was knocked to the floor, some students actually jumped in their seats. Everyone's thoughts were on the new girl and her strange entrance to Hogwarts. Harry's grand entrance didn't help matters either. His footsteps were heard before he arrived, quieting the room. Then he just stood in the doorway, looking at the gryffindor table like he was making sure no one was there who wasn't supposed to be. Satisfied, he continued to the table for breakfast. The murmur of students began again. About five minutes later, Hermione was still chattering about classes to Bethany as they entered the great hall. But as she approached the table, she noticed her voice echoing off the walls. It was so silent in the room that a feather could have dropped, and everyone would have heard it.

The two girls sat down opposite of Ron and Harry, with Bethany across from the famous student. She put a couple of pancakes and a large bit of bacon on her plate before looking at Harry and put on her biggest smile.

"Well! Good morning to you, Harry. And you too, Ron. Would you please pass the syrup? Don't you just love bacon? Mmm...pig meat. No wonder why the Big Bad Wolf was trying to catch the little pigs!"

Harry's jaw dropped. He couldn't believe she just started talking to him like she'd been his friend for years. Even Dennis Creevy still hesitated a moment before speaking to him. Who did this American think she is?

He was broken out of his musing by Bethany speaking to him again.

"Hey! Hello? Hey green eyes! Pass. The. Syrup."

He scoffed. Incredible! She is very gutsy, I can tell you that, thought Harry.

"Hey, mate. Listen, it's really not that hard of a thing to do. You just pick up the jugs and give it to me."

"Mate?" said Harry.

"Uh, yeah. Hermione, isn't 'mate' British slang for friend? Or is it Australian?"

"Um, both I believe. Harry, are you ok? Your face is turning red. Are you choking?"

Indeed, Harry was red, but it wasn't from choking. He was furious. This tart dared to call him a mate? Well, two can play at that game!

"I'm so sorry." Harry said to Bethany, smiling very sweetly. "You wanted the syrup? Here you go!" He picked up the container, reached across the table and proceeded to pour the sticky liquid down the front of Bethany's borrowed robes.

Bethany tumbled backwards from the table trying to escape, and ended up on the floor. (Of course, Colin got a picture of this. Several, in fact-just in case the first few didn't turn out.)

A loud collected gasp went round the room. Everyone had been watching this exchange, and Malfoy was taking great pleasure in watching Potter's face turn red as the mudblood taunted him. Professor McGonagall stood up to start doling out punishment (On the first day! A new record for Potter. What's wrong with that boy!) when the headmaster put his hand on her arm to stop her.

"Let us see how Miss Frost handles this. If anything, it is quite amusing to see Harry trying to hold his dignity in front of a charming young lady." said Dumbledore. "I think we will be seeing more of this in the upcoming year."

If Bethany had heard the headmaster's words, she would have agreed. However, the embarrassment of the situation had her blood pressure pounding in her ears. She calmly got up.

Harry sat the jug down on the table. He said, "You are NOT my mate. Do not assume you are just because you talk to one of my best friends. They've been my 'mates' since first year. I don't know anything about you, besides your name."

"Don't assume anything, Harry Potter!" Bethany retorted. "It just makes an 'ass' out of 'u' and 'me'."

"We'll see about that!" Harry shot back, determined to have the last word. He got up and started to walk down the aisle, head held high. Inside, his mind was churning. 'I can't believe I just did that! I'm in so much trouble. I'm going to get called to Dumbledore's office and get detention for a month.' Harry was thinking, not paying any attention to what was happening behind him.

Bethany scrambled after him. She caught up to him just before he got to the doors and grabbed his arm, whipping him around.

"You are not having the last word here, buster!" She put her hand in her cloak's pocket, withdrawing the glove she found earlier. She shook it out, and gripped it by the wrist.

In an imperious voice, she told him, "Copying the famous words of Bugs Bunny:I hope you know-this means war!" then proceeded to slap him across the face with the glove. She put the glove back in her pocket, and walked out of the room.

Harry just stood there, slack jawed, with his hand holding his cheek. Hermione and Ron raced up to him.

"She hit me!"

Hermione huffed. "Well, what do you expect! I would have slapped you too! Those are my winter robes she is wearing, Harry. My robes that you just dumped syrup all down the front of-not hers. She must be so upset and embarrassed. And just what is your problem with Bethany anyway? She's a very sweet girl! And smart too. Bethany asked me if I had read any books by Myrddin. Myrddin! You know who that is, don't you? It's Merlin. She's talking about some of the most well-guarded books in the world! She also asked me if we had learned certain defense spells that haven't even been taught to us yet. You could learn a lot from her!"

Harry wasn't taking any of this in. He just stood there, hand on his face, with a confused look on his face. "Ron, she hit me!" he said.

Ron swung his arm around his friend's shoulder, guiding him from the room. He thought they had gathered enough attention for one morning. "Harry, mate, I saw the whole thing. _Everyone_ saw it."

Harry paused, causing Hermione to bump into him. "What do you mean, everyone saw?"

"Harry, didn't you notice that everyone was quiet during your little argument? Don't worry. People will probably forget all about it by time classes start on Monday." Hermione said, taking up his other arm with hers.

Harry said, "Yeah, right. I could trip over a rock and fall flat on my face, and it's in the Daily Prophet that night. This is a bloody disaster!"

"Language, Harry. I wonder where Bethany went to? I hope she doesn't get lost."

The three friends continued walking in silence to the common room. As they were approaching the Fat Lady's portrait, Ron spoke.

"Hermione, who's Bugs Bunny?"


End file.
